Ice Chips and Cheese Balls
by AGoldenCharm
Summary: The Miracle of Life isn't always so beautiful, but the end result? Pretty damn gorgeous.


It happens all too suddenly and he genuinely freaks out, instantly forgetting all nine months' worth of preparation they had taken prior to that moment, all the Lamaze classes, all the breathing exercises..._everything_.

And by it he means Tina's water breaking. And by freaking out, he means rushing down two flights of stairs while trying to support her body and cursing the fact that they hadn't picked an apartment on the ground floor.

It's maybe around seven, because he knows they started eating dinner in their apartment at six and she cried out in surprise while he was clearing the table. The sun is already starting to set and the streets are lighting up with streetlamps that pool artificial light down the roads and he's desperately trying to spot a cab while Tina clutches at his torso, her body pressed up against his. He's hailing a taxi when she gets her first contraction, and her sharp cry in pain makes his entire world stop. The taxi is pulling up to the curb but he's not even paying attention to it because he's got one hand on her stomach and one hand in her hair and he's faintly aware of the fact that he's breathing into her ear, "Are you okay?"

She shakes her head violently, but then nods. "I'm fine."

They clamber into the taxi and he's holding onto her for dear life, even though she's totally doing the same thing and her reason for doing it is totally more legit. Especially since _she's_ the one about to give birth, while he's just pretty much flipping out.

The ride to the hospital is short but somehow it feels like a lifetime. The taxi driver is infinitely calmer than either of them and it kind of makes Mike want to scream.

* * *

><p>"Chang, Tina," he says to the receptionist when they arrive at the hospital, his grip on Tina's wheelchair tightening as she moans in pain again over her most recent contraction.<p>

"How long has she been having her contractions?"

Panicking, he widens his eyes. "Uhh... Ten? Fifteen minutes?"

A nurse appears by their side and motions to take the wheelchair from him. "I'll bring you two to your private room."

His grip on the handles becomes vice-like and he shakes his head. At first, the nurse wrinkles her brow in confusion but he glances down at Tina's slumped over figure and he needs the nurse to know that he's refusing to give up the wheelchair and more importantly, Tina, to her.

The nurse finally smiles, understanding.

* * *

><p>The waxy cup of ice chips is shaking. Well, no. His hand is shaking and so are his legs as he makes his way back into the room. Hell, his <em>whole body<em> is shaking more than he's ever experienced before. Tina is lying on the bed, her legs propped up and her head sinking into the pillow, her jet black hair all over the place but still gorgeous, as always.

"Hi," he says softly as he arrives at her side.

She says nothing in response, her bottom lip jutted out and her eyes squeezed shut.

"Here, love." He places the cup into her hand and her small fingers wrap around it as she mouths a thank you.

He sits down in the rolling stool that's next to the bed and they're quiet for a while.

"I'm scared," she finally whispers.

"I know," he whispers back, planting a kiss on her forehead, tangling his fingers in between her strands of hair.

"It hurts."

"I know." Even though he totally doesn't. Even though he can't even imagine how much pain she's going through and how much she's about to go through. Tina's definitely about to be his hero after this.

* * *

><p>They are two hours into the process when Tina sort of loses it. More so than she had before.<p>

"MIKE!"

He's at her side, so he doesn't really understand her need to scream until she spews out a stream of words that has his mind spinning.

"Two hours and I'm only at three centimeters? _Three_ centimeters. That's like the width of my _thumb_. I can't push a baby out when I'm only at _three_ centimeters. I'm so tired of the contractions. _Mike_. It _hurts_, make it _stop_."

Her tears stream down her cheeks and he reaches over to wipe them away. "I want to, T. I want to make the pain stop but we're almost there, okay? We're almost there."

Even though they're really not, and he knows it's going to be a long night at the hospital. The smell of rubbing alcohol and whatever else the hospital always reeks of is starting to get to his head.

* * *

><p>He's nodding off a little when she reaches one hand out over the side of the bed and he instantly jolts awake and takes it, lacing his fingers through hers. A small smile plays on her lips and he relishes it before her next contraction comes and she unravels before him in a series of pained cries.<p>

There's seriously nothing scarier for him than Tina in pain. Well, except maybe the idea that he can do nothing to stop it. She's screaming and her language has gotten progressively more colorful and he can feel his sweat pressed up against her sweat and suddenly, someone is saying, "Ten centimeters and ready to go."

He's not sure whether this is good or bad news. Sure, it means that the end is approaching and that means they'll finally find out the sex of the baby because yeah, they went all traditional with this whole thing and insisted on not knowing until the baby was born, and they'll get to hold him or her in their arms and sigh in relief because it will all be over, but it's the next part that really scares him. Because if Tina is already quavering with pain and fear and anticipation right now, he can't even imagine what's going to happen next as the doctor pulls on a fresh pair of gloves and sets up in front of Tina's widespread legs.

The doctor, Dr. Roberts, a sensible old man, is saying a lot of things Mike doesn't really understand, most of which he chooses to ignore, but some that he desperately latches onto.

"Heartbeat normal... everything looks fine... ready to deliver."

He's perched on his stool and she yanks his hand into hers again in a flurry of motions.

She's screaming. Oh god, she's screaming and her grip on his hand becomes so much tighter than he's ever experienced before in his entire life. Dr. Roberts is ordering her to push and she's snapping back at him: "I'm _trying_!" and he's seriously going blind or deaf or something because he can't really tell what's going on anymore.

But he does know that there's a lot of Tina's shrieking involved. She's shrieking a lot of things, most of which are totally warranted complaints, some of which are frustrated responses to the doctor, and she even shoots a couple of hissy remarks his way.

"Damn you for putting this baby inside of me," she groans at one point before letting out another guttural yell of pain and even though he knows she doesn't actually mean it, he can't help but feel his throat tighten at her words.

"T, it's okay, I-"

"It's _not_! It's _not_ okay and you don't know what it feels like! _You don't know how much it hurts_!" Tina screams again and Mike can feel his heart drop to the pit of his stomach.

"I know I don't, I know I don't," he pleads with her. "I'd trade spots with you in a second to make the hurting stop, Tina. But we're almost done, okay? We're almost done, I promise."

"I'm going to need you to push harder, Mrs. Chang," Dr. Roberts says calmly, much more calmly than Mike can even imagine being right now and Tina is shouting back at the doctor again.

"I _can't_! I _can't do it_."

"Tina!" Mike yelps a little when she suddenly grips his hand even tighter and it feels like his bones are ready to shatter. "Tina, you can do _anything_. _Seriously_. Where's your righteous blade, love?"

She shudders a little as a wave of her contraction passes through her and she falls limp a little. "That's only for sexism," she murmurs incoherently.

He laughs a little, the sound coming out shaky and unsure but he kisses her hair. "Use it now," he urges. "Use it now like the super strong woman I know you are and it will all be over, okay?"

"Come on, Mrs. Chang, one more push," Dr. Roberts prompts her again.

The next sound that comes out from Tina's mouth lasts for roughly five seconds and it's the most agonizing sound that Mike's ever heard before and he's suddenly craning his neck to get a better view of what's happening.

It's not a pretty sight. All that stuff about the miracle of life being beautiful can't be true- at least, not now. There's blood and lots of other things that he's not really sure of, but he can see something. A head. It's gotta be a head, and even though it's covered in gunk he can feel his throat clenching up and his mouth quivering.

"_Tina_," he whispers. "I can see the head. _I can see the head_."

"_Can you_?" She grumbles through her teeth. "_Fan-freaking-tastic_."

He doesn't even care that she's huffing at him because they both know she's grouching over the pain and their _baby_ is being born, for god's sake. "_Hair_, Tina. I can see hair. Our baby has _hair_."

Her irritated manner drops for a moment as her eyes grow wide. "_I _had hair."

"Me, too, Tina. I had hair, too," he says softly, but his voice is giddy. He's unable to tear his eyes away from her face until she screams again in pain and he's glancing down at the intersection of her legs again.

"Ughhh... hair... doesn't... make this any... easier!" She grunts as she squeezes her eyes shut.

He knows she's being grumpy and she's totally allowed to because she's still pushing with all her might as more of the baby's body slides into view. Shoulders and a torso... _God_, it's so tiny...

And the most telling feature of all suddenly appears. Or rather, the _lack_ of the most telling feature.

"It's a girl, Tina_, it's a girl!_" He doesn't even care that he's practically squealing like a five year old at this point because Tina's eyes are leaking again with happiness and his whole body is shaking with thousands upon thousands of emotions that he's having difficulty harnessing.

_A girl_. And he knows, that even though his _daughter_ (that sounds _so weird_) is barely a couple minutes old, he already knows that she's going to be his little princess and she's going to grow up way too fast and he's going to love her more and more each day that she's alive. She's _theirs_ in every way possible and he _still _can't get over that.

"One last push, Mrs. Chang. I promise."

Tina explodes in a mess of sounds and the doctor is suddenly asking Mike if he wants to cut the umbilical cord and he swears to god he's seeing stars as he does it and Tina is literally _bawling_ from the bed.

And the baby is bawling, too, and he can already feel his insides being torn into little shreds at the sound of their daughter crying.

"Oh god, she's crying. _She's crying_, is something wrong?" He panics.

"Relax," Dr. Roberts smiles as he holds the baby up, allowing her piercing wails to echo throughout the delivery room. "It means she's getting air through her lungs."

Right. Mike _knew_ that. He and Tina had learned about it in their Lamaze class. Oh _god, _he's gonna be a terrible father. This was _not_ a good sign.

"She's so beautiful. She's the most beautiful baby in the entire world," Tina blubbers, because there's really no better way to describe the way she's just spitting out words and noises. "_Mike, _she's so- where are they taking her?"

The nurses are pulling their daughter away, no doubt to get her cleaned off, because despite the fact that Tina's already labeled her as the most beautiful baby ever, she's still covered in blood and god knows what else.

"They're just getting her cleaned off, T," Mike soothes, taking a seat on the stool again and rubbing Tina's arm reassuringly.

"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Chang, on a beautiful baby girl." Dr. Roberts is beaming at them but to be perfectly honest, Mike barely has eyes for anybody or anything in the room- just Tina.

"You did it," he whispers as Dr. Roberts leaves the room to give them some privacy and he presses his forehead against hers.

"We did it," she says firmly.

He laughs. "Who was the one who pushed a baby out of her vagina?"

"Definitely not you."

Mike grins at her, kissing her everywhere on her face, tasting her sweat and not caring at all. "I love you."

Her eyes slide shut for a moment, "I love you, too."

* * *

><p>When one of the nurses brings their daughter back into the room, she is wrapped up in a pink and white blanket and her face isn't even visible but Tina immediately spreads out her arms to hold her.<p>

"Have you decided on a name yet?" The nurse smiles.

Mike and Tina exchange a significant look and he remembers their countless nights of arguing over a name, but he also remembers the name they had settled on two weeks ago. He nods.

"Liane," Tina says softly. "Liane Eva Chang."

The nurse takes note of this before leaving the room and Mike and Tina are left to study Liane.

She really is gorgeous, Mike decides, even though her face is very red and her eyes are still shut and her skin is slightly puckered. She's _so small_ and her features are already reminding him of Tina and she pretty much just takes his breath away.

"Betcha you're glad I'm finally going to be smaller than an elephant now."

He chuckles. "Nahh."

"What do you mean _'nahh'_?"

He ponders this for a moment. "I mean, sure, I'm happy that you'll be back to normal, and I'll be glad the pregnancy hormones will be gone," he pokes her side teasingly, earning him an eye roll from Tina. "But there was nothing wrong with how you were when you were pregnant. A pregnant woman's a beautiful thing. More specifically, _you_ being pregnant is a beautiful thing."

She smiles up at him. "You're such a cheese ball."

"...A cheese ball?"

"Yes. A cheese ball," she says firmly. "But I love you anyway."

Mike smiles and then looks back over at Liane, who is sleeping in Tina's arms.

"You're right, you know," he says quietly as Tina coos at Liane while rocking her back and forth.

"Hmm?"

"She _is_ the most beautiful baby in the world."

"Damn right she is."

And Tina's passing him Liane to hold for the first time and his mind is just completely blown by the fact that his _daughter_ is lying in his arms and he's so scared that he's not supporting her the right way or something but Tina just nods encouragingly. He looks down at Liane's perfect, perfect face and he swears to god his heart is just going to explode into a tiny little pieces with pride and adoration and whatever else is going on right now and he doesn't really care _what_ is streaming through his brain at this moment, all he cares is that the two most important people in his life are in the room with him, and it's more than he could ever, _ever_ ask for.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Don't know where that came from! But I hope you enjoyed!<strong>


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